The disclosure relates generally to additive manufacturing systems, and more particularly, to a calibration system for calibrating movable build platforms of the additive manufacturing systems and related program products for calibrating the movable build platforms.
Components or parts for various machines and mechanical systems may be built using additive manufacturing systems. Additive manufacturing systems may build such components by continuously layering powder material in predetermined areas and performing a material transformation process, such as sintering or melting, on the powder material. The material transformation process may alter the physical state of the powder material from a granular composition to a solid material to build the component. The components built using the additive manufacturing systems have nearly identical physical attributes as conventional components typically made by performing machining processes on stock material. However, these components can include certain geometrical features that can only be obtained through additive manufacturing methods.
A variety of operational characteristics for the devices and/or systems of the additive manufacturing system may affect the build of the component formed by additive manufacturing systems. For example, a position and/or orientation of a build platform may affect the quality and/or accuracy of the component built by the additive manufacturing system. The build platform may receive a build plate, which may be configured to allow the component to be built or formed by the additive manufacturing systems directly on the build plate. Because powder material is directly deposited or layered on the build plate, and energy emitting devices are used to materially transform (e.g., sinter, melt) the powder material on the build plate to form the component, it is important that the build plate and build platform be positioned and/or oriented in a desired manner during the build process. When the build plate and/or the build platform are not positioned and/or orientated in the desired manner (e.g., misaligned), the build quality and/or accuracy for the component may decrease because other features and/or processes may not be capable of being properly performed. For example, where the build plate and build platform are undesirably tilted or inclined, the powder material used to form the component may not be deposited in a desired location on the build plate and/or may be shifted or undesirably dispersed once deposited due to the inclination, which may reduce the thickness of the layer of deposited powder material. As a result, where powder material is deposited in an undesired location, the energy emitting devices performing the transformation process may not transform (e.g., sinter, melt) all the deposited powder material. Additionally, where powder material is undesirably shifted or dispersed, and the thickness of the layer of deposited powder material is increased, the energy emitting devices performing the transformation process may not transform (e.g., sinter, melt) the increased thickness of powder material. The improper positioning of the powder material and/or the reduced thickness in the powder material caused by the tilt or inclination of the build platform and the build plate, respectively, may result in structurally inferior areas or portions formed in the component. In some cases, this may ultimately reduce the operational efficiencies and/or operational life of the component built by the additive manufacturing systems.